I don’t know what to make of the Kellyanne Conway/Mitt Romney flap and I’m not sure if the weirdness is deliberate or not. But it certainly reflects a bizarre disorder in the Trump transition team.
For those not watching CNN State of the Union yesterday, in addition to threatening Hillary Clinton, Conway also went on a tear against Mitt Romney who is reportedly under consideration to be Donald Trump’s secretary of state. Among other things, Conway said:
I’m all for party unity but I’m not sure that we have to pay for that with the secretary of state position. But again, let me repeat. What Donald Trump decides Kellyanne Conway and everybody else will respect. It’s just the backlash from the grassroots.
I’m hearing from people say, hey, my aunt—my parents died penniless but I gave $216 to Donald Trump’s campaign and I would feel betrayed. You have people saying, I thought we got rid of this type.
He’s—I’m just saying that there were—we don’t even know if Mitt Romney voted for Donald Trump. He put (INAUDIBLE) in Utah. And so I think there are concerns that those of us who are loyal have and you want somebody—you want a secretary of state who is loyal to the president and (INAUDIBLE) the president’s vision of the world.
Monday morning, the Morning Joe show on MSNBC reported that Trump was furious at Conway. But The Hill noted that Conway said in an interview on Monday that “her boss is aware of where she stands and that he encourages a difference in opinion especially to help him make decisions.”
Monday evening, Trump spokesman Jason Miller insisted to Megyn Kelly that Conway did not go rogue and everything is hunky dory between her and Trump.
MILLER: Kellyanne chatted with the president-elect in advance of going out and offering her comments and asked his permission if it was OK to go and voice her opinions on the matter and he said go for it.
… I think that’s one of the great things about this White House is the president-elect and our future president will take in a number of different viewpoints and opinions. Then he’ll form his own opinion.
According to The Hill, Trump backed up Miller’s story.
So did Conway go rogue, indicating that the Trump team is in disarray? Or does Trump really approve of her attacking a possible high-level cabinet pick on television, indicating a different kind of disarray?
I wish this were the only sign of incompetence and/or deceit but I fear much, much worse is to come.
Meanwhile, watch Miller below on the 11/28/16 The Kelly File.
At the very least, they should be assured that the FBI investigations have revealed nothing and that Trump’s business interests are fully under the control of totally independent trustees before they hand him the keys to the kingdom.
Just look at so many of Trump’s picks and considerations documented by Newshounds. It’s a who’s who of Fox News talking heads. This isn’t a serious vetting of qualifications. Just Fox News pals The Donald bumped into in the hallway during his many Rockefeller Center studio visits.
Suuuuuuuuuure.
I’ll believe that one if and only if she’s not fired until the end of his term. The Donald is vindictive and revenge is best served cold, as the saying goes.
I think David’s right in calling this amateurism. Not even the kookiest of kooky script writers could have concocted this story. Had the Dems done even 5% of what the GOP has done so far, the GOP would have spun out of control. Oh wait, they haven’t been in control of anything since their convention.
The election proved that there is almost no publicity that is bad publicity for Trump. We should view all of these scandalous leaks and surprising outbursts as just more reality tv. Perhaps after a few years of this we will stop paying so much attention to the narcissist in chief and focus more on what Pence is up to.
This is what happens when the population decides it would be cool to put an actor or celebrity in a position of power.
It’s either a deliberate and radical departure from professional governance or it’s amateur hour.
